Staging a sharp recovery from lows, BSE Sensex and Nifty settled over half a per cent higher in Friday’s trade, following the positive opening in the European markets. The 30-share Sensex rose 1,432 points from intraday’s low and settled at 33,781. Similarly, Nifty 50 managed to jump over 400 points from day’s low to close the session at 9,973. Index heavyweights such as Reliance Industries, HDFC Bank, M&M, Bajaj Finance and Bharti Airtel contributed the most to the indices’ gains today. M&M share price soared 7.22 per cent after delivering a strong performance in the quarter ended March 31. RIL, Bajaj Finance, Bharti Airtel, Sun Pharma, SBI and Titan were among the other top Sensex gainers. While ONGC, Tech Mahindra, Power Grid, Infosys, Kotak Mahindra Bank, TCS and Axis Bank were among top Sensex laggards today. Nifty IT was the top sectoral loser, down 1.5% dragged by Tech Mahindra, Wipro and NIIT Tech. On the other hand, Nifty Auto index jumped nearly 3 per cent led by gains in M&M, Hero MotoCorp, TVS Motor and Bajaj-Auto.

What led to a sharp recovery in Sensex, Nifty today

1. Firm global cues and short-covering: Sensex reclaimed its crucial 33,000-mark and settled near 34,000 today. “Markets witness a sharp pullback from the early morning trades, with heavyweights, likes Reliance, Auto & Financials, gaining between 2%-6%. Positive global cues coupled with short-covering, have helped the markets bounce back after the sharp slide seen since yesterday,” Aamar Deo Singh, Head Advisory, Angel Broking told Financial Express Online.

2. Dow Jones Futures up 600 points: The Dow Jones Industrial Average sunk over 1,500 points in overnight trade on Wall Street. “Domestic Markets are purely reacting to global markets, particularly to the DJIA. The Dow Futures are up 600 points today, giving way to recovery across global markets once again. It was a purely sentimental move, and those who managed to push some capital in the markets today when others were fearing, are the ones who would’ve made a killing in the markets today,” Amit Gupta, Cofounder Tradingbells, told Financial Express Online.

3. RIL top index contributor: The major contributor to the today’s gain was RIL which was also supported by technical bullishness, says Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services. “Markets tracked the positive opening in the European markets, post the sell-off seen yesterday. Currently, Markets seem to be driven by global cues and stock-specific action will be the norm,” Vinod Nair added.